Oil and gas industry

Study uncovers thousands of undocumented quakes, underscoring the link between injection sites and seismic activity.

The data is clear: The village of Loving in the Permian Basin has been hit hard by waves of pollutants from Big Oil, yet the EPA hasn’t acted to force a cleanup.

With the EPA hamstrung by the Supreme Court and shaky state funding, New Mexico could face a future with reduced protections.

A state Environment Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection of oil and gas facilities in New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin found more than half may be violating air quality rules. Environment Secretary James Kenney said the results are “cause for alarm.”

An oil and gas firm planned to convert a New Mexico water well into a disposal site for toxic wastewater. A familiar face stood in its way.

But a tax break for low-producing stripper wells gets slipped into a package with green energy breaks.

The oil and gas industry has increased non-election year contributions to New Mexico’s politicians as the state Legislature debated new regulation in the 2024 session. The industry boosted its contributions to Democrats, the current dominant party in the state, while trimming back donations to Republicans.

New and updated regulations, a royalties increase and enforcement funding await major debate.

New bills could curb industry excesses; enforcement agencies offered small increases.

After failing in the last legislative session early this year, a major update of New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Act is again in the works, this time with a sharp push from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office.